The present invention relates to a road milling machine with a driver's cab that is equipped with a floor plate and a steering gear attached to the chassis of the machine. The steering gear consists of a console with a steering wheel.
There are road milling machines that have a driver's cab on the chassis. The driver's cab has a floor plate for the vehicle's operator to stand on. Most driver's cabs also have a seat mounted on the floor plate where the operator can sit down when working on a road surface for extended periods of time.
The steering gear in current road milling machines generally consists of a console on which the steering wheel is positioned. The console is positioned on a completely closed side of the chassis facing the driver's cab. The steering itself is usually performed by means of a hydraulic system.
When working on a road surface with a road milling machine, the operator often has to keep an eye on the road surface being worked on. For example, the road milling machine must often follow markings on the road surface. The operator must always make sure that the road milling machine travels precisely along these markings. In addition, when working on a road surface along a curb or around a manhole cover, the operator must always monitor the edges of the surface being worked on as defined by the above-mentioned obstacles.
Current road milling machines have the disadvantage that monitoring the road surface being worked on from the driver's cab is difficult.
A road milling machine is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,843 whose milling tool is placed in front of the driver's cab in the direction of travel. The milling tool is partially visible from the driver's cab through a cutout in the floor plate. The disadvantage of this is that the view of the milling tool is impeded by the console and its instruments and by the steering column extending up from the floor plate. Furthermore, this arrangement restricts the operator's legroom.